Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebewas a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apartwas considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 November 1930
CityOgidi, Nigeria
CountryNigeria
running risk injustice
...when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.
men people greater
No man however great is greater than his people
fighting men coward
When a coward sees a man he can beat he becomes hungry for a fight.
good-enough enough
I don't want to be the one to tell somebody, You will not make it, even though I know that the majority of those who come to me with their manuscripts are not really good enough.
pens
A pen on paper is the ideal way for me. I am not really very comfortable with machines; I never learned to type very well.
strong energy word-of-mouth
We live in a society that is in transition from oral to written. There are oral stories that are still there, not exactly in their full magnificence, but still strong in their differentness from written stories. Each mode has its ways and methods and rules. They can reinforce each other; this is the advantage my generation has - we can bring to the written story something of that energy of the story told by word of mouth.
moving men reflection
There is a certain increase in the importance I assign to women in getting us out of the mess that we are in, which is a reflection of the role of women in my traditional culture - that they do not interfere in politics until men really make such a mess that the society is unable to go backward or forward. Then women will move in.
procrastination apology men
Procrastination is a lazy man's apology.
one-day goes-on tradition
When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day.
important failing values
It has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.
charity philanthropy opium
Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged.
understanding sides stories
If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all.
important world rooms
Oh, the most important thing about myself is that my life has been full of changes. Therefore, when I observe the world, I don't expect to see it just like I was seeing the fellow who lives in the next room.
stupid integrity reality
One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.